War in Ukraine: what to remember on the 209th day of the Russian invasion

Europe 1 with AFP 6:25 p.m., September 20, 2022

THE ESSENTIAL

On the 209th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian presidency has sworn to "liquidate" the Russian threat, while the authorities installed by Moscow in four regions of the country announced on Tuesday the urgent holding of the 23 and September 27 of "referendums" of annexation by Russia, in the midst of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The Ministry of Defense likened these votes to Austria's Nazi "Anschluss" in 1938.

Information to remember:

- Annexation referendums in pro-Russian regions from September 23 to 27

- A desire to restore "historical justice", advocates Dmitry Medvedev

- "Fictitious referendums not acceptable", denounces Olaf Scholz

- kyiv promises to liquidate the Russian "threat" in the Donbass

Votes in Lugansk, Donestk, Kherson and Zaporizhia

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with foreign diplomats and arms industry officials during the day, meaning he would stay the course.

The separatist powers of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions announced these votes, as did the Russian occupation authorities of Kherson and Zaporijjia (south).

These elections, scheduled for this week, will take place as Ukraine enters its 8th month of war and all these areas are the subject of fighting.

The leaders of the occupying "politico-military administration" of Kherson and Zaporizhia regions further indicated that "volunteer units" would be formed shortly to fight the Ukrainian forces.

These "referendums", on the model of the one which formalized the annexation of the Crimean peninsula (south) by Russia in 2014, denounced by kyiv and the West, have been the subject of preparations for several months.

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The timetable seems to have accelerated with the Ukrainian counter-offensive which forced the Russian army to retreat to the northeast of the country.

Indeed, Vladimir Putin's United Russia party was targeting him on November 4, the day of Russian national unity, which commemorates a revolt of the 17th century.

It was the head of the self-proclaimed "Parliament" of Lugansk, Denis Miroshnichenko who was the first to announce that the ballot would take place, over four days from Friday.

Soon after, the official Donetsk news agency announced an identical timetable, as did the heads of the Kherson and Zaporizhia occupation administrations, Vladimir Saldo and Yevgeny Balitsky.

Moscow informs France of the "unacceptable" nature of its arms deliveries

Russian diplomacy told France on Tuesday of the “unacceptable” nature in its eyes of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, supplies which facilitated a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

"Emphasis was placed on the unacceptability of the continued force-feeding of Ukraine with Western weapons, including French ones, which the kyiv regime uses to bomb civilian facilities and infrastructure," the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Foreign Affairs in a press release, after a deputy minister, Alexandre Grouchko, received the French ambassador, Pierre Levy.

Russian threat will be "liquidated", warns Ukraine

Ukraine warned on Tuesday that the Russian threat would be "liquidated", the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Iermak, denouncing a Russian "blackmail" motivated by "the fear of defeat".

In a tweet, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense estimated that Moscow was repeating the referendum of annexation of Austria by the Nazis in 1938, and that it would know "the fate of Hitler of 1945".

The head of diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba assured that Ukraine would "continue to liberate its lands".

The announcements come as Moscow suffered severe setbacks in early September, withdrawing from the Kharkiv region in the face of pressure from kyiv forces, strong in supplies of Western weapons and equipment.

The Ukrainian army has also launched a counter-offensive on the Kherson region in the south.

This one is less dazzling, but kyiv also recorded gains there.

It is also on the offensive in the Lugansk region (east), which Moscow had conquered in its entirety in the spring at the cost of months of deadly fighting.

Putin calls for "accelerating the production capacity" of armaments

kyiv thus hopes to retake the village of Bilogorivka, the conquest of which had cost Russia dearly in May, its troops and equipment having been decimated while trying to cross the Siverskiï Donets river there.

The images of the destroyed tanks had gone around the world.

Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday with arms manufacturers and security officials, calling for "accelerating production capacities" to "as soon as possible to deliver the necessary armaments" to the army.

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Receiving the credentials of new ambassadors, he insisted on the merits of his "sovereign" foreign policy, before the United Nations General Assembly which opens on Tuesday.

At the same time, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, passed a text considerably toughening the prison sentences incurred by soldiers who surrender to the enemy, desert or commit looting.

Erdogan calls for a "dignified" exit from the conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the United Nations on Tuesday to find a "dignified" exit for all parties to the war in Ukraine.

"Together, we must find a reasonable diplomatic solution that will offer both parties a dignified way out of the crisis," said the head of state at the UN General Assembly in New York.

"We will continue to intensify our efforts to end the war...on the basis of the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine," he added.

The Turkish president said he hoped that "the war cannot win" and that a "fair peace process can triumph", recalling that twice since the start of the war on February 24, Turkey had succeeded to bring together the representatives of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya (south) and Istanbul.

Scholz denounces "fictitious referendums" which "are not acceptable"

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that "these fictitious referendums" that Russia intends to organize in several Ukrainian regions were "unacceptable".

"All this is just an attempt at imperialist aggression that we want to dress up like this," he denounced to the press on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, believing that these consultations , which Moscow wants to organize from September 23 to 27, are not "covered by international law".

Annexation referendums: Dmitry Medvedev evokes "historical justice"

On Tuesday morning, former President Dmitry Medvedev and current number two of the Russian Security Council was the first to call for the organization of annexation "referendums" as soon as possible, believing that it was a question of restoring "historical justice" , the Kremlin considering Ukraine as historically Russian.

"Encroaching on the territory of Russia is a crime and if committed, it allows you to use all forces in self-defense," he threatened.

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For the independent Russian analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, the holding of these votes is indeed a clear threat to Ukraine and to the West which helps kyiv and sanctions Russia.

"Putin is ready to hold the referendums without delay to have the right to use atomic weapons to defend Russian territory", estimates on Telegram this expert who directs the R.Politik analysis center.

The separatist regimes of Donetsk and Lugansk were set up with the help of the Kremlin in 2014. Vladimir Putin had recognized their independence in February, thus justifying his invasion by the need to protect a Russian-speaking population.